علت (علتِ حکم)

العِلَّة

In the lexicon, illa means an illness, and also a cause; as a term of the jurists of legal theory it is an apparent and regular attribute that the Lawgiver attached to a ruling and set as a sign of it. It is distinct from the wisdom (hikma) of a ruling, which is the purpose it serves ¹. An illa differs from a sabab in that the ruling follows the illa without the illa itself having an effect in the ruling, and from a condition, whose suitability lies in something else, and from a preventer ². The illa is a pillar of analogical reasoning, and analogy fails if the reason cannot find the illa of the original ruling ². Its conditions are that it be an apparent, regular and extendable attribute that is not one of those the Lawgiver disregarded; where the real cause is hidden, the Lawgiver sets an apparent sign to stand for it ^{2 3 4}. It is established by explicit text, by an indication or allusion, by consensus, and by deduction, including the purification of the ground of ruling, and the method of examining and dividing attributes ^{3 4 5}.